Eniac Ventures
has successfully closed two funds totaling $220 million, the seed-stage firm revealed exclusively to TechCrunch.
New York-based Eniac has secured $60 million for Select 1, the firm’s fund for follow-on later-stage investments in portfolio companies, and $160 million for Eniac VI. Currently, the firm has made 11 investments out of Select 1, which was actually closed in 2021 but kept private until now. Eniac plans to make its first investment soon out of its sixth fund, aiming for about 40 investments across both funds, according to co-founder and general partner Nihal Mehta.
Eniac’s average check size for new investments is $1.5 million, with follow-on checks typically being larger. The largest check invested out of the Select fund was $6 million.
Eniac operates as a sector-agnostic firm, where the team is described as “pre-product-market-fit generalists.” Despite this, the firm has been heavily involved in artificial intelligence and machine learning over the past decade. Mehta emphasized that AI has been a transformative wave of computing comparable to the internet.
Portfolio companies of Eniac include 1up Health, Alloy, Anchor, Attentive, Brightwheel, Embrace, Ghost, Hinge, Hive, Level.ai, Maestro, Owlet, and Vungle. Eniac was an early investor in Airbnb and has seen successful exits in companies like TapCommerce, Anchor, Dubsmash, Hinge, Workflow, Vungle, and Vence.
Mehta chose not to disclose specific LPs, only mentioning that they consist of a mix of top foundations, endowments, pensions, and fund of funds, with the majority being mission-driven.
Despite a challenging fundraising landscape, Mehta stated that this fundraise was surprisingly the quickest Eniac has experienced in 15 years. He attributed this success to the ability to deliver solid returns in recent years, though specific figures were not provided.
Eniac’s funds have significantly grown over the years. The firm raised its inaugural $1.5 million fund in 2010, followed by $100 million for its fourth fund in 2017, and another $125 million for Eniac Fund V in 2021. Throughout the years, Eniac has supported over 250 startups.
